President's Message

The SRS continues to be very busy around the world!

In February, SRS held its 6th Spine Deformity Solutions: A Hands-On Course in Las Vegas with a full house. Thank you to Munish Gupta, MD and Christopher Ames, MD, and all of the faculty who participated in this event. The next Hands-On Course will be held in Hong Kong, October 15-16.

Program Committee Update

Justin S. Smith, MD, PhD
Program Committee Chair

Our Annual Meeting is fast approaching. Following an exceptionally successful and historic 50th Annual Meeting & Course held in Minneapolis, MN, we now focus our attention on our 51st meeting, to be held in Prague, Czech Republic, arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We are hopeful that this centrally located European city, often referred to as the “heart of Europe”, will serve as a convenient and desirable location for our international attendees, and as an opportunity for our domestic membership to explore this ancient and modern capital.

Education Committee Update

Theodore T. Choma, MD
Education Committee Chair

The Education Committee has been hard at work developing the educational programs (Pre-Meeting Course, Half-Day Courses, and Lunchtime Symposia) for the upcoming Annual Meeting & Course in Prague this September. With the input of the Presidential Line and the Education Committee, we believe we have educational offerings that will be of interest to all members.

CME Committee Update

Lawrence L. Haber, MD
CME Committee Chair

The Scoliosis Research Society continues to thrive in its commitment to Continuing Medical Education (CME) and maintenance of Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) standards. We all continue to learn, as we grow and maintain our offerings. This year we expanded our CME offerings to include journal CME.

In order to maintain the high standards of SRS membership, the Fellowship Committee rigorously reviews all Candidate, Associate and Active applications for membership in adherence to the polices and bylaws of SRS. The Fellowship Committee then provides their recommendations to the Board of Directors for final approval at the fall and spring Board meetings.

Bylaws and Policies Committee Update

Dilip K. Sengupta, MD
Bylaws and Policies Committee Chair

The Bylaws and Policies Committee is charged with monitoring the bylaws and policies to make certain they are current and consistent with SRS activities. Should a change in bylaws or policies be deemed necessary, the committee is charged with drafting language for approval by the Board of Directors in the case of Policies or the SRS Active Members in the case of Bylaws.

Health Policy Committee Update

Gary T. Brock, MD
Health Policy Committee Chair

Greetings from the Health Care Policy and Advocacy Committee. It's been a big year so far with much more on the near horizon! We've had an excellent push to get all 50 state proclamations, acknowledging June as Scoliosis Awareness Month. Our efforts have been boosted by the recent NIH funded study led by Stuart Weinstein, MD, that confirmed once and for (hopefully) all that early brace treatment is effective thereby justifying the importance of early detection.

SRS Angels arrive in Washington, D.C!

Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) teamed up with the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery (AAOS) for 2016 Research Capitol Hill Days April 14-17, in Washington, D.C., to present actual patients to members of Congress in an effort to highlight the importance of Orthopedic research. This annual event is a special time for Congressmen, Congresswomen, Senators and their staff to visit firsthand with the very constituents they represent. This year’s event was especially timely with the request supported by AAOS and SRS for NIH funding to be increased from 32 billion dollars to 34.5 billion dollars. Much of Orthopedic research funding is channeled through NIH grants.

Awards and Scholarships Committee Update

Ian J. Harding, BA, FRCS (Orth)
Awards & Scholarships Committee Chair

The Awards and Scholarships Committee has been busy assessing and offering the majority of the awards offered by SRS including the Lifetime Achievement and Walter P. Blount Humanitarian Awards as well as the Edgar G. Dawson, Eduardo R. Luque, Robert B. Winter, Global Outreach Program and OrthoPediatrics fellowships/scholarships. The geographical spread of awards was truly worldwide and the applications were numerous (130) and strong.

Globalization Committee Update

Lawrence G. Lenke, MD
Globalization Committee Chair

The Globalization Committee (GC) is very proud to announce a unique educational program geared for young, aspiring spinal deformity surgeons, the SRS Asia Pacific Spinal Deformity Scholarship Program. With funding provided by Depuy-Synthes Spine, this unique SRS program will provide two young Spinal Deformity surgeons with an unparalleled opportunity to visit two-to-three experienced Spinal Deformity Centers during a year-long intensive program to optimize their education, knowledge, clinical research acumen and particularly, technical skills in the field.

Worldwide Courses Update

Marinus de Kleuver, MD, PhD
Worldwide Course Committee Chair

Looking back at 2015:
2015 was a very busy year for the Worldwide Courses (WWC) with seven conferences around the world.

2016:
The WWC is proud to co-organize six conferences in 2016. These conferences are an integral part of the SRS educational efforts across the globe, and are a sign of our commitment to foster optimal care for spinal deformity patients globally.

New England Journal of Medicine

Growing Spine Committee Update

Robert P. Huang, MD
Growing Spine Committee Chair

The Growing Spine Committee is charged with SRS membership education, improving patient care, and patient and family education as it relates to the multiple facets of Early Onset Scoliosis (EOS). We are working diligently with the Website and CME committees to bring SRS webinars to the SRS membership. Our first webinar will be spearheaded by James O. Sanders, MD on the role of EDF casting in EOS.

Patient Education Committee Update

Jonathan H. Phillips, MD
Patient Education Committee Chair

The Patient Education Committee is charged with the review and development of new patient educational materials. In addition, with the large revamping of our website underway, we are responsible for reviewing the content as it pertains to patient education. Finally, we function as an outreach to other groups that provide education to patients.

Ethics Corner

Is this an ethical issue? The committee publishes in each issue of the newsletter a case for a possible ethical conflict and invites members to send their comments. The ethical issue case for this newsletter is the over use of Ponte osteotomy in routine AIS surgeries.

Please send your comments to info@srs.org. The committee will collect all responses, summarize and publish them in the next newsletter.

Here are the comments of some of the committee’s members. They are published to stimulate members to send their input.

Great topic. Very relevant. Will be interested in responses

I think that is a good topic. Can argue on either side of the coin. But, in the case you presented, probably adds time, risk, expense. Good food for thought and i think that is the important thing

The flexibility of this curve is not presented, but I would think that excellent correction in both the coronal & sagittal planes can be achieved with standard posterior segmental spinal instrumentation techniques. Harry Shufflebarger's "Posterior Release" which incorporates facetectomy & release of the ligamentum flavum is a simple addition to the procedure to help a bit with the sagittal correction. I consider this a part of my usual construct & correction technique & don't consider it as a separate procedure, nor do I bill for it.

The indiscriminate use of the more complicated Ponte osteotomies with their attendant risks does not seem justified. It does, however, offer another billable part of what should be a simple standard operation. It prolongs the surgery, adds risk of neurologic injury & potentially increased EBL. For this particular case it would seem unjustified and could be seen as unethical as it suggests doing something unnecessary which will benefit the surgeon more than the patient.